


care

by fishysama



Series: goretober 2020!!! [9]
Category: Junjou Romantica
Genre: Abusive Parents, Angst, Bad Parenting, Broken Bones, Child Neglect, Childhood, Childhood Trauma, Gen, Goretober, Goretober 2020, Light Angst, Neglect, Self Confidence Issues, Self-Esteem Issues, Self-Harm, Self-Hatred, Self-Worth Issues, projecting :)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:53:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26963983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fishysama/pseuds/fishysama
Summary: goretober day 9: infirmaryakihiko wants attention.
Series: goretober 2020!!! [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1950796
Kudos: 9





	care

Natsuko: her face tight as a uni knot, stern lips pulled taught. Fuyuhiko: in the middle of “an important business call,” speaking loudly and brashly without care in the somber room. Akihiko: trying his best not to cry with people around, lightly holding his throbbing arm. He wanted attention. Was this what attention looks like?

There are parents who hold hands with their children when they cross the street, mothers who prepare treats for their children when they return from school, fathers that hoist their children up on their shoulders, allow them to see the world from a big boy’s height. Akihiko knows these sorts of relationships exist because he sees them pass on the street, come to life on television, and dwell in his friends’ anecdotes.

These parents exist. They just aren’t meant for him.

At age eight, you don’t want to accept these things for the way they are. You are the bad, undeserving child. You spend countless hours trying to make yourself perfect, a child that a mother and father would care for. You don’t know what “care” means. You throw yourself off the top of the monkey bars while Mother watches, wanting her to catch you. She doesn’t.

And now they were here, a family unit that looks more like three strangers on a train with no other empty seats. They sit in a horizontal line in the urgent care, each occupied with their own, separate thoughts. They wait for their own, separate destinations to be announced over the loudspeaker impatiently. The train ride is two decades long.

“Mother—?”

“Quiet, child. Selfish.”

Akihiko looks down, pressing the red bruise of his fractured arm. It didn’t hurt anymore. There are things that hurt more than that now. There always have been.

He dips his head, lets his unkempt bangs hiding his vision. He invites the strangers to watch him cry.

**Author's Note:**

> [tumblr](https://juroguro.tumblr.com/)


End file.
